The effects of alcohol, drugs (both ethical and illegal), fatigue, stress, emotional disturbance and the like have long been known to degrade both the physical and mental performance of human beings.
Such degradation of performance may, in certain critical tasks, result in substantial loss of life or property. For example, impaired performance of a ship captain may result in improper response to unusual weather conditions leading to the sinking of the ship, total destruction of the vessel, its cargo and possible long term environmental catastrophe.
Impaired functional capabilities of operators of other types of vehicles can also lead to similar results, for example, pilots, bus or truck drivers carrying cargo or passengers. Individuals operating complex or sensitive equipment may likewise make decisions or take actions which could result in the occurrence of loss of property and human life.
Employers have a two-fold problem. First, they must not hire individuals who place themselves and others at risk due to the effects of substance abuse on their work performance. Second, the employer has a moral and legal responsibility to their shareholders and society at large to monitor their current employees for decreased performance.
Many attempts have been directed to intrusive and non-intrusive testing of individuals to ascertain whether or not their bodies contain performance degrading substances. The testing of individuals in this manner has raised many legal, ethical and moral issues and in many instances is inadequate.
Particularly, such testing will not disclose performance degradation due to emotional disturbance, stress, debilitation as a result of age or disease or the like.
Accuracy and legal and employee morale problems with drug testing have discouraged many employers from implementing widespread drug testing programs. Existing drug tests detect not the drug itself, but the by-products called metabolites that are left behind after the drug has been metabolized by the body. Since these by-products linger in the body for weeks, it is entirely possible and even likely that a subject who fails a drug test is totally sober and fit for work.
Most current non-intrusive drug tests require taking a sample of the employee's urine, a bodily function that most people consider intensely private. The problem is compounded by the growing tendency of employers to observe the employee in the act of urination to prevent cheating. It would be most useful to evaluate an employee's performance capabilities without embarrassing invasive testing methods.
NASA developed the first non-intrusive testing system called "Critical Tracking Task" (CTT), in the 1960's for astronauts and test pilots. Because non-intrusive performance testing detects impairment from any source including illness, emotional problems, or staying up all night with a sick child, it is vastly superior to drug testing for detecting those who pose a safety risk in critical fields such as transportation.
Moreover, because CTT looks only at the test subject's fitness for duty and not off-duty conduct, and does not involve any intrusive or embarrassing procedures, CTT eliminates the employee morale backlash and lawsuits caused by random drug tests.
Other attempts have been made to test individuals on a non-intrusive basis or without the necessity of testing breath or urine samples. For example, the U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,215 to Erwin Roy John entitled, "Method of Testing the Senses and Cognition of Subjects," discloses a system which produces an electroencephalograph on a subject in response to predetermined stimuli where response is compared to the subject's evoked response at a base line condition to ascertain differences between the two. Any differences between past and present performance are automatically statistically analyzed by a computer to ascertain the significance thereof. Obviously, such apparatus as described by the John patent requires complex sensors and highly trained testing personnel to provide the stimuli to the subject and record the results emanating from the subject's brain, establishing both the base line and the subject's response to the stimuli.
Other conventional performance testing such as apparatus (both automotive vehicle and aircraft) have been developed to test the capability of an operator or subject to perform pre-selected critical tasks in advance of assuming work positions to carry out such tasks. Simulators are typically programed so that the operator or subject performs tasks (driving/flying) which are normally performed in the day-to-day work of that individual. The generated test results are compared against proper objective responses anticipated of subjects performing in similar circumstances.
Although such simulators are generally effective, they do not compare the subject's present capabilities of performance against that same subject's previously established performance response capabilities. Furthermore, simulators, even the most simple, are relatively expensive and the use of them exclusively for testing instead of training requires a substantial amount of time.
Subjects engaged in high stress, repetitive work, such as airline pilots making repeated take-offs and landings, chemical plant operators processing toxic materials, nuclear power plant technicians maintaining and cleaning power plant facilities, and surgeons performing countless operations in a limited time period would benefit from immediate feedback on their current performance level. Their employers would not only increase production efficiency but would also increase the level of on the job safety for their employees and the public at large.